Stock Software

The unit comes standard with a customized version of Jungo's OpenRG firmware. This is a Linux-based distribution with some proprietary packages such as drivers for the MoCA and Wifi devices.

Installation of RedBoot can be accomplished with the jungo-image.py script. The script uses the telnet interface into the router to accomplish it's task. Depending on the version of the firmware, it may have to be manually enabled in the advanced tab under local administration. The script can be used to first make a backup of the current flash image; this procedure takes about 4 minutes. Use -h to get help on all the options. If there's some failure during the write portion, the only recourse may be to install a JTAG header and restore the firmware via JTAG; so, use at your own risk!

The RedBoot prompt is accessible via telnet 192.168.1.1 9000 on the LAN port (WAN port on rev D). The port is configured to obtain an address via DHCP; if this fails it defaults to 192.168.1.1. RedBoot does initialize the LAN switch so no special action on Linux is required.

Initialize flash: fis init

Get MAC address for WAN port from the end of the filename given to the backup of the stock image. (i.e. MI424-WR-001801010203.bin WAN port MAC is 00:18:01:01:02:03)

Restore original image

Close telnet session and start another one; may require setting IP address on host. Verify that RAM version is running with version command.

load -h <ipaddress> -r -b %{FREEMEMLO} mi424wr-xxxxxxxxxx.bin

fis unlock RedBoot

fis write -b %{FREEMEMLO} -l 0x800000 -f 0x50000000

Close telnet session and power cycle.

A similar sequence is used to upgrade RedBoot. Load the RAM image, then load mi424wr-ROM.bin;
after unlocking, do a fis write with a length of 0x40000.

Building RedBoot

RedBoot can be built from the Intel RedBoot sources found in the
Intel IXP400 Software site. You'll need the RedBoot source code as well as the RedBoot NPE microcode. This mi424wr.epk (MD5: 5415782b69c41c6562289dbb35235615) adds support for the MI424-WR. The procedure for building RedBoot is as follows:

The resulting redboot.bin image can be found in the install/bin directory.

Linux

Board id 1778 has been registered for this device. The attached MI424-WR images have been built from the OpenWrt trunk with various patches and tweaks. Basic support for the MI424-WR is found in target/linux/ixp4xx/patches-2.6.xx/185-mi424wr_support.patch. Building from source requires using make kernel_menuconfig and selecting the MI424-WR board type (it's not set by default). After building, the resulting image openwrt-ixp4xx-zImage can be downloaded to the board as described above.

Support for the wifi rt2500pci card on revision A units is still experimental. It works in client mode but there are problems in AP mode.
It is best to replace with an Atheros card.

Upgrading OpenWRT

If you have already installed OpenWrt and like to reflash for e.g. upgrading to a new OpenWrt version you can upgrade using the mtd command line tool. It is important that you put the firmware image into the ramdisk (/tmp) before you start flashing.

Debricking

Note this version of RedBoot has the option of bypassing the boot script if the reset button is pressed during the power-on sequence. This always allows access to RedBoot via telnet on the WAN port. When RedBoot is ready to accept commands, it sets the Internet LED red.